Afghanistan's Taliban sends a message to the NATO summit and says no Afghans were involved in Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks that led to US-led invasion of the country, describing the 'war on terror' as an excuse for colonisation

Demonstrators clash with law enforcement officers during a protest before the start of a NATO summit in Chicago May 19, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

Afghanistan's Taliban have sent a message to NATO leaders at a major summit in Chicago, calling the "war on terror" an excuse for colonisation and urging them to follow the French lead and get out.

A statement on the Taliban website, Voice of Jihad, says no Afghans were involved in Al-Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington that prompted a US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The statement fails to mention that the invasion in late 2001 followed a refusal by the hardline Islamists, who were then in power, to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was based in the country.

"The American intelligence networks including the CIA state that members of Al-Qaeda have all left Afghanistan," the Taliban statement says.

"Therefore the military presence of America is not for its own security but a long-term strategy for turning our country and the region into its colony."

The statement hails the decision of France's new president, Francois Hollande, to pull French combat troops out this year, two years ahead of NATO's schedule.

His decision is "based on realities and a reflection of the opinion of its nation", the Taliban say.

"We call upon all the other NATO member countries to avoid working for the political interests of American officials and answer the call of your own people by immediately removing all your troops from Afghanistan."

Opinion polls in several countries providing the 130,000 troops fighting the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan show that war-weariness has set in and most people back an early withdrawal.

Charging foreign forces with abuses of human rights, torture within "secret prisons" and the killing of civilians, the Taliban asks how they can "justify this savagery in Afghanistan at the hands of these self-proclaimed civilised men?"

The Taliban were notorious during their rule from 1996 until 2001 for their brutal suppression of human rights.

More than 50 world leaders were gathering in Chicago Sunday for one of the biggest NATO summits in history, aiming to hammer out a unified exit strategy from Afghanistan after a decade of war.

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Hassan Akbar

20-05-2012 06:16pm

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No to terror!

I don't support Talibans, but it now appears more than ever that terror is not neceassarily monpolised by Talibans alone.

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Zaki

21-05-2012 07:02am

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Reply to Hassan Akbar

Hassan Akbar, you are a lier. Tabilbans did not do any terror. When Russians left, the Talibans did stablized the country. The Americans were not awarded contrct to Oil and Gas, mineral exploartions. Then Americans wanted to change the government. 911 gave them an excuse to attack and change the Taliban government. You should get your facts correct. It is about time these Americans, EU, and their cohorts will be kicked out from Afghanistan and central Asia.